Located at the top of a hill that is the second-highest point in Dane County is the old Lake View Sanitarium. Constructed in 1930 as a tuberculosis sanatorium and general hospital for Dane County, it looks a bit like a sprawling art deco mansion if you don’t really know any better.
Out of use for that purpose since 1966, this area has come to be known for its strange happenings. Surrounded by woods, it seems no one in the Madison area is without a spooky story to share about Sanitarium Hill.
In daylight, the Sanitarium can be deceiving and reading about its origins makes it sound like a lovely place - isolated from the general public but in fresh air, it was home to up to 100 tuberculosis patients at a time.
Now the building is home to the Dane County Department of Health and Human Services and the hill out front is known as one of the best sledding hills in town.
Maybe it's because it is still in use, but folks say it's not the building that's haunted, but the woods behind it where you'll find paranormal activity. Before the Sanitarium was built here, the spot overlooking the lake would have been considered sacred to the Native Americans who lived in the area. So the people who feel unhappy vibes and displaced spirits might be connecting with those who passed long before the Sanitarium was there. If the city did indeed build on an ancient burial ground, the activity here could go back for centuries.
There's a cemetery that abuts the woods where people report cold spots, unexplained mists and general unease or feeling as though they're being watched. But it's actually the woods themselves that seem to be the center of possibly nefarious acts that have led to paranormal activity.
A large depression in the ground near the smoke stacks is said to be an actual underground tunnel were sanitarium workers moved the bodies - and sometimes stored them. It is said they couldn't burn too many bodies without drawing notice. They were also concerned with putting too much smoke in the air and affecting the patients who were still alive at the sanitarium.
People who've walked through here report hearing voices and some say they've captured recordings. There are also feelings of being stalked, hair being pulled and other unexplained occurrences. There's an abandoned building that used to be a nurse's quarters that abuts the side of the building that's still in use. Though many windows are missing, there are often lights left on and red-lit exit signs that add to the eerie feeling of the building. Visitors report an apparition at the door to this building.
